How to Make a Cutting Board, What does it take to make a cutting board, what woods to use in making a cutting board, what type of cutting board to make, make a butcher block cutting board

There are only 14 basic steps to follow when making your own heritage cutting board. By following these steps you will wind up with a beautiful board approximately 12 in. wide by 16 in. long and 1-¼ in. thick. Lets get started:

Choose the wood(s) you want to make your board out of. For your very first board I would recommend using Hard Maple as it is inexpensive and is the predominate wood used in butcher block construction. This way if the first one doesn't quite come out right, you don't have a lot of money invested. Cut several strips of random widths to 3' lengths. Keep the strips at no more than 2 to 2-¼ in wide. When you cut the strips be sure to mark the ends of the board with an arrow showing that the "face" is up. This will help in the clamping and gluing phase to ensure that face grain edges are all up and edge grain sides are being glued together.

Plane or run through a surface planer all of the edge grain sides to make sure they are perfectly smooth and without any blemishes.

Lay these strips side by side till you have a board about 12 in. wide. Leaving the strip closest to you alone rotate all the other strips 90 degrees away from you. Apply a liberal coat of glue to all of the exposed edges of the boards you just rotated. I use Titebond III as it is a water proof adhesive, has been certified by the National Safety Foundation as "Food Safe", and has a 20 min. work time.
Now rotate all the strips back like they were and apply four or five bar clamps down the entire length of the strips. Alternate one on the top with one on the bottom. Before using the clamps add a strip of clear packing tape to the clamp bar. This will keep the bar from sticking to wood blank and eliminate the possibility of ripping out any of the surface material.

Take your time with this step so as to make sure that all of the strips line up exactly even with each other. Set the blank aside and let the glue dry for at least 24 hours, longer if cold or humid. Don't rush.

2: After the waiting period remove the clamps and plane, or run through a surface planer, or sand with a belt sander to make sure you have two perfectly smooth surfaces. All glue globs and misalignments must be removed at this step.

3: Once the top and bottom are smooth trim off one end to get a square edge. This would be trimming off the 12 in. edge. Now proceed to cut the rest of the blank into strips 1-¼ in wide by 12 in long. Just take 1-¼ in chunks off of the 36 in blank. As you cut these keep them stacked up and oriented in the same order as you cut them off. You'll learn why in the next step.

4: Lay the strips out on you table exactly at they were cut so that you reassemble the original 36 in. blank. Now starting at one end, rotate each strip 90 degrees always working towards the first one rotated. Then starting with the second strip, pick it up and turn it end-for-end. Keep the same face up. Do this to every other strip the full length of the project. Then, just like in the original glue up, rotate the strip furthest away from you 90 degrees away from you. Continue to do that for all of the strips except for the very last one. Apply glue to all of the face up surfaces. Rotate each piec 90 degrees towards you starting with the second strip. You want to bring the glue surface up againt the unglued surface of the strip next to it. Now clamp just like in the first gluing operation. Again take special care to ensure that you have proper alignment on the ends and on the surfaces. It may help to tap down the surface onto the bar clamp bars with a piece of scrap wood. (Don't forget the clear packing tape.)

Set this board aside for at least 24 hours just like in the previous gluing operation. In fact, give this phase a few extra hours of drying time. Nothing is more frustrating than to build a fine board and have it come apart because the glue wasn't quite dry

5: Once the board is dry you can remove the clamps and begin the sanding process. I start with 36 Grit paper to quickly knock off the glue globs and to smooth up and uneven surfaces.

6: Next I move to 60 Grit sanding just enough to remove the grooves put in the board during the previous sanding operation.

7: Now I move to 80 Grit to remove the 60 Grit grooves.

8: Then comes 110 Grit.

9: Followed by 150 Grit.

10: The entire board is then finish sanded with 220 Grit to give it that smooth surface and get it ready to accept the finish

11: Trim all four sides to make sure you have a square board.

12: Either with a router or by hand round over the top edges and corners to eliminate any sharp edges or corners.

13: Hand sand the entire board again with 220 Grit paper to make sure that all splinters, fuzz etc. has been removed.

14: Laying the board face down on a towel or rag attach a rubber foot (called a bumper at the local hardware store) in each corner of the bottom to provide a skid free surface.

That's it. You have now made your very first cutting board. In the next chapter I'll show you how to season and care for your new board.